My Beloved Heartcatcher
by Etherealpain
Summary: What do you do when someone gets in the way of your loved one and their dream? You confront them, of course. Probably. If they're not that scary maybe you could. MaruxRuby that is most likely going to contain NTR.
1. Chapter 1

_Here's my take on a prompt that I started with some friends. Its main characters are Ruby, Hanamaru and Dia. I'm writing it in English and they're doing it in Spanish. Story name is Tricking Heart if you're interested._

 _This story basically follows the timeline on the Anime, except the fact that Hanamaru didn't call Dia when she was on "Trial period". Ruby DID talk to her after practice, so the girls actually convinced Maru to join too._

* * *

Kurosawa Ruby has a dream, she wants to be an Idol. But she doesn't have what it takes; she's shy, she is not confident in herself, and her family being as traditional as they are, would definitely not approve, specially her sister. There's a person that Ruby considers inflexible and very stubborn, her name being Kurosawa Dia.

Ruby knows that her sister would refuse not only because she is just stubborn, it's because if there's something that Dia is passionate about it's definitely idols. That means if she was strict enough with daily lives matters, with idols she would become extremely unyielding.

Ruby, since she was little, accepted everything Dia told her to do. Sometimes reluctantly, others happily. But Ruby knew her sister always had a reason. And most of the times she was correct. So Ruby got used to follow her.

Now, there's another reason for refusing that it's not her stubbornness or extreme love for idols. It's Dia's overprotective nature. The black haired girl protects her sister from the smallest threats, because she considers her spineless and weak. Dia never says it out loud but one has to be a fool not to notice.

Idol activities are actually pretty hard. And Dia not only considers Ruby not good enough, she would like to protect her from something that she considers dangerous, or so Ruby has mentioned before. Adding the little sisters loyalty to the older one's words gives you a pretty repressed dream within a shy girl.

After arriving at this conclusion, Kunikida Hanamaru sighted for the third time since she started her shift at the library.

"I can't keep thinking about this all day, better get to work" she though before starting to order books. She couldn't help it. She loved her friend a lot. The redhead's problems had become hers and vice versa.

What started her previous train of thoughts was a memory of her training with Ruby, specifically, her genuine smile despite her tiredness. They supported each other on the decision of joining her school's idol club and Maru could see her best friend was satisfied, she enjoyed it way too much. Of course, Maru enjoyed it too. She was sore but she liked the feeling.

After a couple minutes of busy work she was left again with not much to do, other than wait for new book arrivals or requests, so she started thinking about Ruby's problem again. This was unusual, she would usually start reading one of the many books at her disposal to kill time but ever since she'd accidentally looked at the face Ruby had throughout the class when she though no one was looking at her, she started her thinking spree. Ruby immediately left the classroom before Maru could ask what happened, and since she had shift at the school library, she was stuck there for another hour and a half.

After deciding that her theory was probably correct, she arrived at the conclusion that she'd have to face Dia some way or another. Honestly, this sacred Maru. A lot. And if she, basically an outsider, was afraid, she couldn't imagine what Ruby could be feeling like. "She's brave, zura" was the thing she said before grabbing a book and finally starting to read so that she could take her mind off the matter.

At 10 minutes before her shift was supposed to end, she abruptly closed her book. She had been looking at the words but nor really paying attention to the meaning for a couple of paragraphs when she stood up and promptly exited the library. No one would complain if she was absent for such a short amount of time. Actually, visits to the school library were pretty rare. Maru was trying to justify her actions but she was conflicted. Deep inside she knew she was being a naughty girl.

After Maru arrived at the Kurosawa residence, she found out the reason behind Ruby's disappearance and noticed the amount of overthinking she had probably done. Her friend was jotting down on a sheet of paper. Maru just waited patiently until Ruby noticed she was being watched and turned to her.

"Hello Ruby-chan", she said with a concerned look.

"Oh hello Hanamaru-chan. What are you doing here? "

"I was wondering if you were alright because you left immediately after class. Didn't even say goodbye, zura."

"Oh right, I'm sorry. I left and then I went back but you were already gone. I would have looked for you but my parents requested my presence immediately after class. I have been helping them with accounting since I got here."

"So that means you're okay?"

"I'm okay, just a little tired."

"That's good to hear. I was worried." Hanamaru was relieved and finally removed the frown on her forehead but another one soon appeared

"Wait, it's a little unusual that you were requested here."

"Y-yes. My sister usually does this but she's been busy with her student council work."

"Must be hard. Even more if you take into account that she's a third year and has to study for college entrance exams."

"Yeah, she hasn't come home yet. She has done this for days." Ruby couldn't hide her nostalgic expression.

"Is she okay?"

"Of course she is, you know she'll deal with anything life throws at her"

Hanamaru couldn't help but smile like Ruby was. She must like her sister a lot, Maru wondered how it'd feel to have a person that thinks so highly of oneself.

After denying the help Hanamaru offered because she was 'just about to get done', Ruby offered dinner to her friend and asked if she wanted to stay a little bit just to hang out. Maru accepted and had such a good time that she wouldn't even remember how worried she was a couple hours ago.

That was, of course, until she met Dia just as she was about to leave. Maru felt like she had committed a crime and was in front of a cop for a second.

"Good evening, Hanamaru-san", the older girl said said with a smile but her tiredness was apparent.

"G-good evening, zura" the brunette said automatically. She probably didn't even comprehend what Dia had just said. She was busy thinking. What should she do? Yes, she had come to assist ruby but she was not ready. She was preparing herself mentally but no matter how she looked at it, there was no time. So she just closed her eyes and waited...

And waited some more. But nothing happened, Ruby had engaged in a conversation with her sister that seemed normal enough. Hanamaru, surprised, mouthed "you didn't tell her?". The redhead gestured with her head that she didn't. This was responded with a sigh.

Well, the immediate danger was gone, but they still had a long way to go. And it'd be better if they told her directly because if she ever found out by a third party, Ruby would probably not hear the end of it and the brunette was worried that she would not be allowed to see her friend anymore. To their luck, Dia mentioned she was hungry and that she please be excused before entering the living room.

Maru got closer to her friend and whispered "what's our plan?". This caused a sad reaction accompanied by silence from the redhead.

"Don't tell me…" Maru curled her hands into fists "…you've given up already?" She just couldn't believe it. Her words seemed calm but she was far from it.

"But you looked so happy", she continued, but brunette was about to cry.

"It's your dream, there's no way your sister can have so much control over your life!"

"I cannot lie to her, Hanamaru-chan", barely a whisper was what came out of her trembling lips. Some seconds passed and Ruby noticed how angry her friend was, so she hugged her sweetly to calm her down. Maru hugged back. After a few seconds the brunette was less angry and more determined. "You don't have to lie to her" She separated from the hug and entered the living room.

Ruby didn't quite understand and stood on the spot, a little bit confused. After she understood what her friend meant, the redhead desperately tried to follow her friend while asking her to stop but when she looked into the room she noticed her sister's glare and hid with her back pushing against the wall, next to the opened sliding door. She was nervous. She was extremely nervous, but she told herself she would not cry today. It was hard, because Dia had looked like Hanamaru had insulted her entire family tree. She tried to hear what they were saying but there were far and their tone was not high enough. After giving up on trying to spy she dropped, with her back still against the wall, utterly defeated. She wasn't even thinking about anything. After a couple of minutes she heard footsteps belonging to one person.

Ruby wanted to care, but she didn't care. She wanted it to end already, wished she'd fall sleep immediately.

Her wish was not granted, though, because she heard Hanamaru asking her if she could teach her how to use a cellphone.

* * *

 _Right, so here's the first chapter. This fic is going to contain NTR, so proceed at your own discretion._  
 _Also, this is my first fic and the first thing I've written in a long time. Not to mention English is not my main language. So I'd ask for your patience and if you'd like to correct me I'd accept that gladly._


	2. Chapter 2

Dia was tired but glad that she was mere meters away from dinner and her bed. Went through the door. Greeted a friend of Ruby's, and went inside. Finally met her sister and asked about her day and the task she had been assigned. She listened, smiled when she got the news, then she apologized for pushing the task to her sister. She excused herself, went to the kitchen, and was staring down her plate. She began to eat, thanking the heavens she finally got some well-deserved rest.

But that feeling didn't last long.

Dia felt trouble coming from the other room. Saw trouble run through the door. Looked at trouble's beautiful chestnut hair being pushed back by the force of trouble's movement, and then looked at it being pushed forwards because of the combination of the momentum it carried and trouble's sudden stop. Dia then watched trouble fidget a bit while she gathered up courage. And finally, she heard trouble asking how her day went.

"It was okay", Dia answered immediately. "How about yours?" she asked back, as a way to distract the brunette while she continued with her meal.

Taken aback by the question, Maru took a bit to process what she had done before she finally answered "Oh, good, I was worried about Ruby. You see, she left without saying goodbye and I thought that she might be sick? But she was alright. Heh-heh"

Dia gazed at golden orbs while they moved about. They pointed to the chair at the corner, at Dia, then at the scroll on the wall, then at Dia again. It was making the black-haired girl impatient. She obviously wanted something, Hanamaru was not one to _run_ just so she could ask how days went. So she swallowed, moved the hand that was covering her mouth away, and asked.

"That's nice. Is that the only thi-" but she couldn't finish her question, as she was interrupted by a relatively far, but loud, "Hanamaru-chan, don't!".

"What did you do to her, Kunikida-san?" Dia asked judgingly.

'Uh-oh. Her flip has been switched', _Kunikida-san_ thought.

"N-nothing. Not yet." Terrible choice of words, because the frown the older girl had became a full-blown scowl.

Dia watched as her little sister looked into the room, got scared, and pigiii'ed away. She got up and was about to move before Hanamaru grabbed her wrist.

"Let me explain, zura", she demanded. The third year, complied, watching the younger girl's face filled with determination now.

"I guess it's the fair thing to do" So she sat again, crossed her arms in front of her chest while trying her best to appear mature and hard to crack.

Maru was about to burst into laughter, as she found the intimidation attempt funny. Dia would look serious when she was not trying, but now that she tried, she overdid it. She was stiff and trying to look tough but the result was the opposite. Maru wanted to laugh but she wasn't _that_ bad at reading the mood, so she tried her best to look serious and tried to explain.

"It's about Ruby." the brunette began.

"Yes, I could see that. Could you do a couple of things before you start, please?"

"If it's within my possibilities"

"Yes. Don't worry. First, can you sit down? You're making me uncomfortable" the older girl gestured at the spot in front to her and the younger complied.

"Last thing, Why did Ruby look like she was about to cry?"

"Um, I'll get to that eventually, Dia-san. She's okay, trust me"

Still not satisfied but visibly relaxed, Dia nodded after remembering no reason why she should distrust her sister's friend.

"Okay, like I was saying, it's about Ruby. Err...Umm… Oh. Do you know about that thing about lions and cliffs?"

"Huh?"

"You know, lions would throw their cubs down cliffs in order to test their strength and would raise the ones that climb back"

"Oh, right. I did know about it but you were not making any sense. "

"Can you imagine Ruby as a little Lion cub?" And Dia sure did.

The green eyed girl had her eyelids closed and was not responding. She also had a small blush, but it went unnoticed.

"Um... Dia-san?"

"Ahem. Please continue, Hanamaru-san. And it better not be about throwing my cute sister down cliffs."

"I'm gonna have to disappoint you, zura."

"The answer is no."

"Don't you want to see her climb to the top, Dia-san?"

"While there's nothing that could make me happier except maybe one thing, I'm going to have to stay ground and repeat: the answer is no. I don't want her to get involved in such a world. I don't want to risk that she might never climb back up."

"She's not alone."

"The second year trio inspires no trust"

"I'm talking about myself... Wait, that was rude"

"It was meant to be... Huh, what? You?"

"Dia-san..."

"Oh, sorry about that. It was surprising you would be interested in such a thing."

"It was all thanks to Ruby-chan!"

"Is that so?"

"Yes. She supported me even though I'm not confident in my looks and my physical condition is not that great." Hanamaru felt a glare directed to her chest area.

"She also showed me a magazine and there was an idol I identified with. It was a member of... Err... U's?"

"It's µ's!"

"Oh, you also know them?"

"Um..." Uh-oh.

"Yes, of course you do. Ruby would have shown you." The older girl mentally sighed because Hanamaru fixed the fuckup she had done.

"H-hanamaru-san, I get it. I'll give you a chance. I'll think about it." The brunette's face flared up. Dia was glad Maru was distracted too. Finally out of the sticky situation, she became serious again.

"But know that you either do stuff right or you don't do it at all. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am"

"Good. Now go and fix the mess you've made with Ruby. This conversation has taken a while."

"What should I tell her?" Maru asked.

"Perhaps you should've thought that before you decided to confront me while ignoring what she desired"

'You're one to talk', Maru thought. But the progress had been good. It was not a yes yet but it was probably as far as she'd ever get for now.

"Thank you, Dia-san. Excuse me."

"Good night, Hanamaru-san"

"Good night, zura"

Dia now watched Maru walk away and admired her hair. 'It's long. Goes as far as her lower back.' she kept going down with her gaze, noticed that Kunikida-san had a nice ass and reprimanded herself a couple of seconds later. She looked away while thinking that if it was quality checking, it was not wrong. The short girl might be sexier than her sister but Ruby was definitely cuter. Her little Ruby had idol potential, Dia was sure of it. It just needed to be molded into something solid, which was a word that you couldn't use to describe the redhead.

With a sight she returned to her now cold food. Started chewing again, thinking whether giving the opportunity to Hanamaru was a good choice. It was done on a whim.

Dia was sure Hanamaru alone couldn't support her sister. The black haired girl knew that it was her own duty to wipe the younger girls' tears away when they faced defeat. So she was looking for a reason. Why had she said yes? In fact, she had only said that she'd think about it. Yet there she was, assuming she had already made the choice. She chewed a bit and swallowed. Chew for a bit and then swallow. Chew and swallow. Brain on overclock. She considered consulting her pillow on the matter, but then she found the reason. It was because she had no say on the matter.

Dia had not thrown her cubs down the cliff. They had jumped on their own.

* * *

 _And that's it folks. Hoped you enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it._


	3. Chapter 3

It has been three days since Maru faced Dia and lot of things have happened, such as her club accepting a new member, which coincidentally was one of Maru's childhood friends, Tsushima Yoshiko-san. The brunette was now heading for Numazu. Her objective was to finally get a cellphone. She was the only one without one and it could make communication with the rest easier, or so was Yoshiko's argument. Ruby was busy as usual, so she is riding the bus with just her grandma, much more technologically ignorant. Maru has a plan, though. She knows her own limitations so she is going to just ask the clerk for the simplest cellphone there is. Her plan is straightforward, a simply charge the frontlines.

She went into the store and followed her plan thorough, grandma just tagging along. The store employee asked Maru to follow him so she could see the models. Once again, he asked "what are you looking for, miss?" she repeated herself, "I don't want anything fancy, I'm looking for quick communication, that's all". The clerk responded with "Understood, is 2 gb too much? You're looking for a low-end or med-end device, right? Is 4G important for you?" he stopped because Maru didn't respond to any of his questions so he turned around and found out she was thinking HARD. He was surprised but all kinds of oddballs happened to get into the store daily so he waited patiently. Maru was trying to remember where she had heard the word jee-ga-bite before.

The brunette finally found her answer after 46 uncomfortable seconds. The place she heard it was yesterday, on her classroom. The girls were discussing about her phones. Yoshiko was apparently very surprised because a classmate 'survived' with 8 jee-ga-bites and then asked Maru, although it seemed like demanding an explanation, if she would be able to survive on 8 jee-ga-bites too. Yoshiko got even more surprised after Maru told her she owned no phone.

Right. So 8 jee-ga-bites were enough. Unless you were Yoshiko. But Maru didn't plan to give her phone a lot of use, so probably less than that was okay. So she asked the employee for a phone with 4 jee-ga-bites.

The store employee got moving, not even batting and eye to Maru's change of mind. Suddenly going to 4GB after asking for low end phones. Kids nowadays don't know the struggle.

He came back later, with three models but the kid nor the old lady were at the same place. He found the girl sitting on a bench while she got up and went up to him.

After some more of her quirks like asking how does a camera fit in there or what's a Sim card, she ended up choosing the model that the employee recommended, emphasizing that it could last her for a long while. She was surprised because the price tag wasn't that much, and so was her grandmother. Because of the price somewhat, but much more because of the HDTV screen she had been looking at for the past 20 minutes. It was the same 2 minute video on repeat. It's the present, zura.

Yoshiko would be even more surprised if she ever finds out that Maru's phone is not 4 jee-ga-bites, but rather 128 GB of storage. Of course, there's no way that Maru could discern between RAM and storage.

Still, not as surprised as Maru's grandmother next month, when she realizes that the price she saw was a monthly pay, and that she had to do 10 times more.

* * *

"Excuse my intrusion" said Hanamaru while going through the sliding doors. She moved through the halls of the Kurosawa residence and into the room where Ruby is spending her afternoons lately, shopping bag still in hand. She opened her arms wide, ready to embrace the figure in front of her until she noticed black. "Whoops", scaped her mouth.

Dia turned to face the intruder, her expression a bit lively compared to past days. "Good afternoon, Hanamaru-san. Didn't hear you coming in"  
"Good afternoon. Umm..."

"Ruby just left for Numazu, you know. What are you doing here?"

"Uhh... I thought she'd be busy as always so I went on my own, I wanted to give her a surprise. More importantly, Dia-san. You're home early today."

"As you can see, I am. Excuse me."

Dia reached for her phone on the table, speed-dialed her sister and brought her phone to her ear.

"DIA-SAN, STOP!"

"What is it now?"

"Are you calling Ruby-chan?"

"Of course I am."

"Please stop"

"Why? Do you want my sister to waste the rest of her day looking for you?"

"It's not that. I want to call her."

"Yes, that's what I'm doing. Are you feeling well?"

"No, I meant _I_ want to do it. I got a new phone and I want to try it."

"Oh..." Dia hanged the call. "Wait, _you_ got a phone?" Dia dialed again.

"Hey that's pretty rude!" Hanamaru said, embarrassed. "It's right here, look", the brunette explained while taking the phone out of her shopping bag. Dia nodded and hanged yet again.

"Okay, go. She's probably going to call back because the missed calls so hurry up."

Hanamaru stared at her phone, Dia stared at Maru.  
"Do you actually know how to..."

"Dia-sama teach me how to make a call please." Maru bowed as low as she could while standing up.

* * *

"Right, I've already added her contact so you can just go straight to the Phone app and tap on her name."

"Alright, zura" Maru touched the screen and felt her phone vibrate, it seemed like pressing a real button somehow.

"No, that's for email. Press Home to go back"

"Baseball?"

"No, the button in the middle of... Never mind that, here's something easier. Just answer Ruby's call" Maru moved closer to Dia's phone. It was vibrating, but much more violently. The brunette wondered if it was feeling any pain. 'Slide to answer' it read. So Maru did. She slid the phone on top of the table. "Hello?"

But it was still vibrating. Dia just grabbed Hanamaru's hand with one hand, and her phone with the other and told her "This is what you're supposed to do" before moving Maru's fingers awkwardly through the screen.

"Hello? Is anything wrong onee-chan?"

"Not much, depending on how far you've gotten"

"I'm still waiting for the bus. Did you need anything?"

"Oh that's good. Actually, there's…"

"RUBY-CHAN HELLOOOO"

"He-hello"

"there's that", Dia continued, "She's right here."

"Hanamaru-chan? What happened?"

"COME HERE, I'LL EXPLAIN LATER"

"I ignored you the first time but please stop shouting, Hanamaru-san, she can still hear you if you speak normally" Ruby listened as her sister moved away from her phone, still discussing with Hanamaru. "Huh? Yeah, that's the whole point, it doesn't matter if she's far away."

"Sorry for that", could be heard clearly as Dia was now close to her phone, "I'm going to hang up now, see you soon"

"Bye"

'There's no way she could have done it' was on Ruby's mind for a second. It disappeared for a minute, then it came back for the rest of the trip.

* * *

Ruby's intuition was not wrong. There was Maru, sitting next to Dia, Dia still wearing her school uniform, Maru dressed casually. They were talking to each other, pointing at the screen of …was that a tablet?  
For the unexperienced eye, it might seem like Dia was exasperated, but Ruby knew she was composed. Actually, Dia liked to be relied upon. She also loved challenges. Being the one who got Hanamaru out of the Stone Age might be something she'd be proud of but not openly admit. Ruby, more than anyone, knew the magnitude of said challenge, so she giggled at her sister's attempt. Hanamaru was not as innocent, though. Ever since she decided to face Dia she's been more confident, as demonstrated by today's adventure.

"I'm home", she said at last.

"Welcome home" greeted both girls, both equally happy that Ruby finally made her appearance and that they didn't have to talk to each other anymore.

Ruby watched as Hanamaru walked with her arms open, so she opened hers too and walked into a hug. Maru told her about the things she'd done and Ruby congratulated her. Dia exited the room as she was going to prepare Dinner.

"Ruby-chan, did something happen to Dia-san?"

"Hmm?"

"You know, for the past weeks, she's had eye bags, and just her overall aura that screamed 'Don't get close to me', but today it's gone"

"I don't know much. She told me Mari-san forced her to take a day off"

"Is that it?"

"Probably not, but it certainly helped."

Ruby and Maru spent the rest of the day together, with Dia coming into the scene for dinner and just to talk afterwards. Maru surprisingly learned enough. She was able to read incoming texts and answer calls, probably. They couldn't teach her how to make them, though.


	4. Chapter 4

_You know what,guys? I'm making this fic Maru x Phone now_

* * *

Maru woke up with a full bladder and sluggishly headed into the bathroom. Before heading back, still half-asleep, she washed her hands and looked at the mirror. While doing so, she felt relief after she looked at her dopey face. Maru didn't particularly think she had a pretty face nor she felt bad about it, but at this moment, she was glad she had it the way she did.

A couple of seconds after that, she watched her sleepy-proud expression turn into a grimace. The sudden change was because she found something weird about her background, so thoughts that had been clogging up her mind finally came out. They included bad news; she was in a bathroom that was not hers and she felt like she was being watched. She didn't like the feeling and being alone at the same time, so she rushed through the hall and back into the room she was sleeping in. She went into the futon, hesitated for a second before finally touching, or rather, smacking the face of the person next to her. Satisfied with the bulge she felt, she calmed down. The brunette said, "I'm sorry Ruby-chan" then fondled the nose that she struck, asking for forgiveness through the tender touch. An unusually low grunt was all she got as a response. Funny how you're not yourself when half-asleep. Maru replied asking for a hug, explaining that she was, in fact, quite scared. She got the hug, and also felt her partner's breathing into her neck. It felt great. Maru would be feeling lots of things in another context but she was extremely tired. It was late and she didn't get much sleep. So she drifted into the arms of Morpheus immediately. This marked the end of Maru's nightmare-filled night.

* * *

How did it start, you may ask? Here goes:

Maru sat at the clubroom, her eyes flying through the pages. She was reading about the Chandrian. She was so focused that she didn't notice Yoshiko and You entering the clubroom. They didn't notice Maru either. They were concentrated on their own conversation about 'the stairs' and 'the goat man'. A high pitched scream soon followed, coming from Yoshiko, who had a quick glance at Maru's figure. As soon as it started, it stopped.  
"Wait, it's just Zuramaru." Said the red eyed girl after confirming that the figure sitting at the corner not only did have a face, she was actually her friend and club partner.

"WHAT?" said You after uncovering her ears.

"Uhhh… Good afternoon?", Maru asked, greeting but at the same time hoping for an explanation. The pair bowed and greeted back.

"Sorry about that, she probably thought you were one of the faceless" You told Maru.

"I wasn't scared you know! It was surprising seeing you. To think you'd even hide your Aura from Yohane herself, huhuhu"

It was a nice try, but not good enough. Her scream told a lot. 'The faceless' actually sounded like something you should fear. Maru didn't like ghost stories much, but she was a curious person. Curiosity got the better of her, and she did something she'd regret later at night. She asked "What's a faceless?"  
You and Yoshiko had a conversation in the span two seconds. They just looked at each other and through the power of expression alone, held a conversation that had no words. It went like this:

"Uh-oh. Perhaps we shouldn't have told her that"  
"It's okay, we could probably backpedal a bit and fix it up"  
"Actually, we could just tell her. It's probably okay"  
"Or even tell her the whole story"  
"Right, we'll do that"

They hurried through the room and were now towering over poor Maru, Yoshiko had a smirk on her face, You was playing along but was not as amused.

"So you want to hear the story of the faceless, huh? Kuh-kuh-kuh"

"Umm… I think"

"Do you like interesting stories, zuramaru?"

"Of course I do Yoshiko-chan"

"It's Yohane"

"Are you not a scaredy-cat? It's actually kind of scary even for me" warned You.

"I don't think I am. And if Yoshiko-chan has heard about it I think I'll be okay"

"Well actually she didn't sleep for about thr-" You tried to say.

"OH HEY ZURAMARU. Do you want me to teach you a nice thing or two about your new smartphone?"

"Yoshiko, we promised we would take things slowly with that"

"It's okay, I just want to show her a smartphone's music player doesn't play only music"

Yoshiko took Maru's phone and went to get hers. Maru watched the screens trying to get a glimpse of what the black haired girl was doing but she had absolutely no clue. She looked at You for a hint but You shrugged in response. You then finished the sentence that was interrupted now that the screaming person was distracted. "Three days without sleep before she finally collapsed" she whispered on Maru's ear.

"Uh-oh", she answered. Uh-oh indeed. The brunette reconsidered asking about it all. "Actually, I think I'm better not knowing about it after all" You responded with a nod.

"I'm done." Yoshiko looked like she had captured the hero and was about to explain her master plan.

"Too late, she called it quits" And then disappointed.

"Tch, scaredy-cat" And then slightly annoyed.

"Sorry about that, zura"

The conversation then shifted into a more pleasant subject, Ruby. Yoshiko asked where her friend was, Maru told her the usual: that she's helping her family out and would text Maru when she's done, so Maru won't have to walk all the way up the Kurosawas to check on her. Oh the wonders of technology. If only Maru knew the same thing would unexpectedly bring her one of the best night's sleep she's had in her life.

Maru left the school, walked home alone and started reviewing class material when she got there. An hour and a half passed before she got the text. It was 5:14 pm when it arrived. Maru answered the text at 5:26. Her reply read "yhts bbnice zssccccccccccc". She also activated wifi, lowered the brightness and started the music player. Of course, Maru didn't know what she had done. She would probably ask one of her classmates how to reply to a text again tomorrow. She paid no mind to the music. Assuming it would end when the tape ended. Unfortunately, smartphones don't work that way. After two songs, the smartphone spoke.

"Greetings" said the smartphone

"Hello" replied Hanamaru

"I wasn't really sure where to share these stories but I figured I'd share them here" continued the smartphone.

"You chose me?"

"I've been a search and rescue officer for a few years now…" continued the smartphone.

It was amazing that even smartphones could work on these day an age. Even more considering they could do such a dangerous job.

Up to this point, the smartphone might as well be alive for Hanamaru. Not only that, the smartphone she got was apparently a veteran officer.

…or was it? Phones were just machines, machines used to communicate with people. There's no way it could've been an officer. Hers was brand new too. She accidentally dialed a random number and got this person, who actually was an officer, telling his life story, right?

So as to not be rude, she started listening to the person, sometimes answering even thought he was so focused in the story that he seemed to pay no mind about her comments and questions.

The officer went on a on about different sightings of stairs in the middle of the forest, random disappearances that made no sense to him as an expert. "Those are probably Yokai", Hanamaru suggested. He also went about the goat man, the fuzzy man, and of course, the faceless. He never mentioned the name faceless, he just described them. Human sized beings that can not only speak but can make any sound even though they have no mouth and can see even though they have no eyes. Sometimes very aggressive, sometimes passive unless provoked. They were not all inherently malign, but they were scary because of their unknown nature. Hanamaru was now scared shitless. Out of all the people that had a phone she had to call the dude with the weirdest tales. Not only that, he actually had encounters with the faceless too.

She didn't care about being rude anymore, she just wanted the officer to shut up. Her family was no good because she was the first one to own a smartphone, so she dashed to Ruby's place. And oh lord, was she ever going to touch the damn phone again.

She went on, ignoring whatever she could until she reached her dear friend. Maru asked her how to hang a call and then corrected herself. She didn't even want to know. She just wanted it to stop. She then threw the phone at Ruby. Ruby "hanged the call" and later explained that it was, in fact, not a call, but a 2 hours and 20 minutes recording that was sent to her by "✝YOHANE✝"

She cried for half an hour afterwards, with her head on Ruby's lap. Ruby patted her head and ran her hand through her hair, telling her every now and then that everything was going to be alright, reminding her that she was still there with her and that she'd not leave her until she felt better.

Slowly, Maru recovered, and she was able to speak again. But she begged Ruby to sleep with her. She was **not** going outside, even accompanied.

Ruby called her mother to tell her about it, she answered that it was okay, but they had to share futons.

Dia and Ruby were getting their futons ready, but Maru had already fallen asleep inside one. They had to drag her to the middle of the room, next to the other one.


	5. Chapter 5

_The audio from last chapter is actually real, and it's from this video /watch?v=nhkgXOUDetc_

 _It's actually pretty interesting._

* * *

Maru opened her eyes and blinked a few times while her blurry vision gave way to a clear image of a high school girl dressing up. She covered her eyes and in an instant turned her whole body to the other side to avoid being rude. It's not as if she'd seen her underwear or anything, the girl was fully dressed except for her socks and shoes, but it was embarrassing nonetheless. Good thing she was not looking this way.

She uncovered her eyes and now a sleeping redhead appeared in her field of vision. "She's so cute", she thought, and actually said out loud.

"Oh, you're awake Hanamaru-san? Breakfast is going to be ready soon."

Maru turned again, facing Dia now without problem. The girl didn't seem to mind being seen while she put her knee socks on, so why should Maru?

"Thanks. Umm..."

"Yes?" Dia turned her head to Maru, still bent over, expecting the question.

"Umm... Why am I at your room?"

"Huh?" The older girl stood up, incredulous.

"Ehh..."

"Wait, you actually don't remember? You came here at night crying because your cellphone was bothering you. Ruby calmed you down and you slept without a sound. After that you…"

"Alright, alright, I remember now."

"By the way, how are you feeling?" Dia continued dressing up.

"I'm feeling way too good. Slept like a baby except for an... incident, if you will. I actually had nightmares but then a cute angel covered me in her arms and protected me from all evil."

Dia just coughed and turned her head away. She must've thought it was extremely corny. Maru didn't blame her.

"T-That aside, how are _you_ feeling? That cough better not be because you're stressing so much."

"Thanks for your concern, but no. There is no way this Kurosawa is falling to sickness."

Dia was very confident in her strength and beamed a cocky smile at the younger girl, but Maru noticed she was a bit red in her face. Knowing how stubborn Dia is, she dropped the subject. Maru might have to use Ruby later in order to check on Dia.

"I'm going to eat. Wake Ruby up when you're ready."

"Okay."

Maru waited until she was sure Dia had left the room. She crawled with her blanket still on top, through a futon and a half and stared down at Ruby's closed eyes. She ran a hand through her hair, and caressed her forehead before planting a kiss into it. After that, she spun 180 degrees, covering her face in embarrassment. 'Maru, control yourself' she repeated a few times. She finally did, and faced Ruby once more, this time just calling her name a few times. "Ruby-chan, wake up. Hey. Ruby-channnnn"  
Ruby's face twisted into a confused look, then into a sleepy smile.

"Good morning" she said, and Maru's morning became good.

Maru also made sure to **not** touch her phone, even after being told what happened and having the file deleted, so it remained at Ruby's place.

* * *

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful if you ignore the bump on Yoshiko's head at the first period and Maru's eventual apology minutes later.

The interesting bits, once again, came at night.

Maru was walking from the convenience store to her home. She carried cartons of milk and juice inside a yellow plastic bag. This was all she was carrying.

Everything was going normal until she decided she'd take a shortcut, it was done on a whim. She usually takes the normal route since the time she saves is not much considering she has to go through a dirt road with lots of weeds. At the end, she figured if she'd walk a bit faster than usual, the time saved would be much greater. She decided for the shortcut when she noticed how late it was getting, deeming it the best choice.

Maru got into it, trotting down the path. After ten minutes, she stopped and drank from a pot of water she had on her backpack. It was normal procedure.

Five minutes down the road and she noticed the sun going up. Five more minutes and she arrived at the destined place. She radioed her teammates to let them know she was in proximity. And started going without waiting for their reply. After three minutes of careful walk, making sure she didn't make noise, she found a clearing within the forest. She walked to the other side, avoiding the center and walking in a semi-circle, until she heard some faint crying close by. This was weird, so she traced back and went into the position she was before, still not able to pinpoint the location. It seemed to originate from all places at once, since no matter how much she moved, it was still at the same volume. That happened for a while, until the crying increased in intensity, but as usual, didn't seem to originate from anywhere. It was getting harder to breathe, the crying was making her feel guilty. Maru went into the middle of the clearing, and looked everywhere, spinning and turning until she, almost out of breath, noticed what was wrong. She found the source of the cry. It had been hers all along.

Maru woke up from her nightmare, she was sweaty and had a rough breathing but she was not crying.  
She stared at the nothingness of night, not really thinking about the nightmare anymore, as it was already forgotten. Maru knew that she had a nightmare again, but not what happened within. She tried her best to calm herself down, trying to ignore she was alone and in the dark. Her mind wondered over to Ruby, and her breathing changed her pace from quick regular breaths to irregular ones, as she finally began to cry. It was a faint little cry, but intensified by the night's silence. She lamented Ruby's absence, then wondered where would she be had she not met her. Lastly, with her eyes still watery, smiled remembering old times.

This was the second nightmare-ridden night. Maru would confirm if she was stronger than Yoshiko if she slept peacefully the next one.

* * *

 _Hanamaru is cheating though. I'm pretty sure poor Yoshiko didn't have anybody to sleep with the first night :(_


	6. Chapter 6

It was finally Saturday. Two girls were sitting in a café table, with her drinks in front, half-full, staring challengingly at each other.

"Hey, Dia..."

"What is it Mari-san?"

"Do you have any idea what would your sister possibly want?"

"I don't get it."

"No. I'm not joking. Did you do anything to upset her?"

"Nothing comes to mind. Why are you bringing my sister to the conversation? Is this your shameless way of evading questions?"

"That's not it!" but it was, Mari wanted to avoid this conversation as much as possible. "Perhaps you're hiding something from her?"

"Not as much as you're hiding from me."

"Dia, don't get upset. I didn't bring it up without reason. Don't turn back yet and you'll see soon."

Dia obeyed and stood still while Mari stood from the table and walked past her. She was starting to regret it because it had been several seconds and Mari has not said a word. "Mari-san if you're not here at this moment you better..."

"Shhhh. Gimme a sec."  
Dia started tapping the floor impatiently.

"Alright. After I count to three, you turn back and face me, and then look into the distance. From your perspective it's a little bit to the right. One, two..."

Dia turned and did as she was told. She was ready to burst and tell Mari to behave herself and stop running from responsibilities. But she stopped when she saw pink hide behind a corner past the window.

"Did you get it?"

"Ugh. Yes. "

"So, are you going to answer now?"

"I honestly have no idea. We've barely even talked lately so I doubt I did something wrong"

"Ohhh..."

"What do you mean 'Ohhh'?"

"It's so obvious it's not surprising you don't get it."

"Huh? Whatever could you possibly mean?" Dia wanted to give her a second chance. Mari outright rejected it.

"I said you're surprisingly oblivious sometimes."

Dia hated this part of her. Mari could push Dia's buttons whenever she pleased and it'd benefit her. She's been running from Dia this way since she came back.

"How long since you found her out?"

"Since the very beginning. She's been sure to hide from you but not the person you're talking to. That's pretty weird. Even waved a few times."

Dia could not keep up with this, and with Ruby following she'd get nothing out of this conversation except more stress.

"Well, it seems that's as far as we'd get today. I thought that in a free day and with a nice drink you'd open up but you're stubborn as always."  
She stood up.

"Wait up, Dia."

Dia stopped in her tracks and turned with an expression that demanded that it better be important.

"Wanna find out why Ruby followed you?"

* * *

Dia dropped her shopping bags into the kitchen counter and headed into her room. She had seriously expected this encounter with Mari to bear fruit but it didn't depend on only Dia's efforts. Mari had to give in as well.

Her surprise was that it wasn't only Mari, but her sister was behaving strangely too.  
Another thing to add to the pile of problems. Laying on the floor and letting out deep breaths, she tried to meditate. She had been successful at it until the doorbell rang.

She moved towards it and opened it. "Did you forget your keys again? That's no good. You're at high-school already, you should be more responsi- Hanamaru-san?"

Hanamaru stood on the doorway with a surprised look. Perhaps she was not expecting Dia's presence, much less her scolding.

"Good morning. How are you Dia-san?"

"Morning. Good. Come inside" Dia said while moving out of the way so Maru could get in.

"Excuse my intrusion. Sorry for coming without being invited. Is Ruby around?"

"She's not here, she's with Mari-san right now and I'm not sure when she's coming back."

"You mean the director?"

"Err…yes." that was such a big title, it was awkward to use.

"Oh no, Ruby's in trouble. We have to save her. We have to save out club!"

"What? No, she's not."

"Why is she speaking with the director if she's not in trouble… scholarship? But her grades are not that high either. Hmmmm..."

"Nothing of the sort. Remember that Mari is also a normal high school girl. Like me."

"That example doesn't help, zura."

"Is that so? Hmmp". Rude kid.

"Your grades are absurdly high."

"Huhu- of course. Hard work never lets you down."  
Such a drastic change. Good save, Hanamaru.

"I'll get some tea. Please take a seat"

"Thank you."

Dia headed to the kitchen, poured two cups and took a glance to the bags she had brought earlier. Next to them was Maru's phone. She made a mental note to tread lightly around that subject and headed to the living room again. When she arrived she found Hanamaru with a math book. It was something she didn't read for entertainment, that's for sure.

"Want some help with your homework?"

Hanamaru tilted her head "Are you sure?"

"I'm free right now and you seemed like you needed some help. No good?"

"Yes please!"

Dia could get a distraction. For Maru this was a golden opportunity too, getting tutored by the highest grades in the school.

* * *

It's been 5 minutes since 'the penguin' separated from 'Sam'. Agent R followed 'the penguin', while keeping her distance. She was very careful of not being seen by 'the penguin'. Her target entered a convenience store, and agent R took advantage of this time to see if she's got any messages from her partner and rival, agent D. She had none, so she resumed her wait. After a couple of minutes, 'the penguin' got out of the store and took a turn. Ruby, or rather, agent R, assumed she was finally going home.

Result of the mission so far: no information.

Agent R decided to message agent D. "The penguin has started to migrate", the text read. By the time she finished typing such a ridiculous message, 'the penguin' had gotten a generous head start, making Ruby speed up on her chase. This, in turn, made her crash with a stranger. Ruby fell, but the stranger seemed to be okay. This was good enough for her. "I apologize", she said quickly before getting up again and preparing to continue her chase. She did not, as the stranger grabbed her wrist. She turned her head to look at him, eyes watery. When she did, the stranger immediately released her, much to Ruby's comfort.

"Ruby-chan it's me, Mari", the stranger said.

Ruby wiped her tears and finally recovered from such a distressing situation.

"Hi there, Mari-san."

"What are you doing?"

"Following my sister, making sure she's okay."

Mari felt guilty about ratting her out, getting in her way on purpose, and now about grabbing her. Especially about grabbing her.

Ruby knew she was going against every rule agent D told her, but since the mission today failed and this was her only chance, she decided to ask 'Sam' anyways.

"Umm... Mari-san, c-can you tell me what you talked about with her?"

"About nothing, really. She got mad because I kept wasting her time."

Probably not the answer Ruby was expecting, because she nodded and started pondering.

"Hey, never mind all that. Do you want some ice cream? I know a really good place."

"Really?"

"Yeah, take it as an apology please."

"Huh? What for?"

"Nothing."

One ice cream is not going to be enough, Mari. You'll need much more if you want to ease that guilt.

* * *

Mari took Ruby to the promised ice cream place, and then they paraded through the stores in Numazu. Making sure to notify Dia, of course.

Mari, even though her hunch had been correct, still had some questions about Ruby following Dia. She was particularly concerned about the waving. Did the tiny redhead actually trust Mari that much? Mari cunningly led the conversation into the subject, not that Ruby made it any difficult, and tried to make Ruby spill the beans about it. For Mari's surprise, Ruby mentioned that she was actually not waving at Mari, she was just waving at her direction. Taking her surprise further, Ruby added that the waving actually saved Mari. She refused to speak any more about it. This left Mari with more questions than answers. The blonde just let it go lest it turn into something more complex.

She instead focused onto another thing that bothered her, but this time it was not mining information for Dia, but for personal interest. She planned her setup, speaking about her adventures in America while Ruby heartily listened, she was stopped every now and then whenever the redhead had questions. Things were going where Mari wanted them to. She finally spoke greeting friends. Hugs and kisses on the cheek were commonplace, personal space was much smaller, and it was not considered rude to become "this" close, she explained while reducing their distance to demonstrate. Mari then hugged the distracted Ruby, still speaking but neither of them were paying attention. Mari was focused on studying Ruby's reactions, and ruby was trembling in place. She did not push Mari away, but she was very unsettled. Mari let go, still talking about irrelevancies. She played it off as if nothing had happened, and ruby soon enough calmed down and forgot about it.

Mari noticed two things, the first one was that Ruby didn't actually scream like she usually did. That much had changed about her these couple of years. The second one was confirming that when Ruby went into fight-or-flight mode, and she seemed like, if out of escape routes, she might actually fight. It was the second time Mari had seen Ruby with ill-intent, the first one being when she grabbed her early. Satisfied with the information she had gotten out of this encounter, Mari dropped her work-mode and started genuinely having fun.

The third year had not noticed it yet, but this was the first time she was having fun ever since she came back and started working as the director. Mari enjoyed Ruby's innocence and Ruby enjoyed Mari's doting, something she clearly missed from her sister. Without ulterior motives anymore, Mari enjoyed herself, removing her mask and feeling free of all judgement, especially with someone as pure as Ruby.

* * *

Ruby walked home, with a grin on her face.

"Good job today", came a voice from behind her, belonging to a black-haired classmate.

"Yoshiko-chan!" Ruby turned around. She was not expecting a compliment from her at all.

"Ahem…" Yoshiko warned her with her gaze.

"Datenshi Yohane!" Ruby addressed her again with the same amount of delight.

"Better, but still wrong."

"Umm… Agent D?" Happy with the answer, 'Agent D' started walking alongside her.

"Finally. Congratulations on employing such an advanced tactic even though you started today. You might have it in you after all. I was getting a bit uneasy after you denied my approach several times and went against my instructions but I now see that you had a much better plan."

"Huh..."

"It's time to share the loot. What did you get? Come on."

"I got new clothes but I don't think you and I are the same size. Maybe we can get You-san to-"

"Ehh? Information, agent R, in-for-ma-tion."

"Ohhh… Well I didn't get much on that."

Yoshiko laughed, "There's no need for humility. Pretending to be a bad spy, then 'accidentally' getting in contact with a secondary target, and using cutesy charm to extract information. You deserve nothing but praise."

"I just didn't want you to torture my sister for information."

"Yeah, that was probably important. I was so close several times, but you, for some reason, revealed our position"

"I don't think they noticed you hanging out at the café anyways."

"That's right, you made a good distraction."

"As I mentioned, t-torture is not good."

"Have you ever watched a movie about criminals, Agent R?"

"Umm…"

"Never mind that, we went off-topic."

"Right, so, as I was saying, we failed the mission."

"Come on agent R, the joke stopped being funny. There's no way you could spend 3 hours with a target and not get anything. Or did you actually…?" But the silence told enough. "I WAS RIGHT, YOU'RE THE WORST SPY EVER. My followers will probably find this funny." Yoshiko burst into laughter.

"I'm still grateful for the opportunity, thanks for playing with me today, Yoshiko-chan." The blunt honesty struck Yoshiko like a hook to her cheek.

"O-of course you wouldn't be an expert with such little time. Right?"

"Yes."

"Let's practice again sometime."

"Of course." Ruby beamed a smile at her.

* * *

After a long day of time-wasting, Ruby finally arrived home. She found Hanamaru sleeping in a futon and her sister reading next to her, paying no mind to the snoring.

"Good evening. How did it go?" Dia looked from behind the hard cover.

"I'm tired but I had fun."

"What a coincidence. Oh, I saved you dinner, it's on the table. Get to it before it turns cold"

"Thank you. When did Hanamaru-chan come here?"

"She came to get your help on math but you were gone. I helped her instead. She fell asleep and I brought her here yet again. Apparently still has nightmares."

Poor Maru. Ruby nodded and left to get dinner. Perhaps she'd pat her head and pray for her as she had done in the past, after eating dinner.

When Ruby came back, she found that Dia was not in her own room anymore, there was only Maru and another empty futon.

"Right, Mom does not come today so she can sleep in hers instead."

That night only Ruby and Maru slept in that room.


End file.
